Pouakai Circuit

Despite the 14km hike with Nick I decided to set off on Sunday evening for the Pouakai Hut as the forecast for the next day was so good. It was after six by the time I started on the steps and boardwalks for the 2 hour climb up the Mangorei Track. I needed the head torch from the start and near the end it began to snow. Then I saw the lights of the palatial new Pouakai Hut ('There's a light, over at the Frankenstein Place') ahead and was soon warm and dry by the stove.

Mangorei Track

Pouakai Hut kitchen

A lot of people come here for one night (or just come up in the dark) to see the mountain at dawn reflected in the nearby tarn. I packed for a long hike (27km/17 miles) and made my first stop there.

Taranaki Maunga (or Mount Egmont) 2518m is a dormant stratovolcano. I made it to the top in the summer of 2010. The tarn is properly called Ruahumoko and the waters were used for spiritual cleansing. Today it was frozen. 

From there I followed the well made track to the top of Henry Peak 1224m. The scale of the infrastructure for these walks is amazing: the huts, bridges, ladders, walkways and vegetation management etc.

Staircase and steps up Henry Peak

The track didn't need to go this way but the view was worth the detour and climb:

Pouakai Range with the tarn somewhere in the brown patch to the left of Maude Peak 1220m

Also visible to the bottom left is the Ahukawakawa sphagnum moss swamp I would cross later.

Frost on the leaves

There was a lot of unbroken ice on the path so I reckon I was the first one out that way that morning. 

Steps - often icy high up

Kaiauai Swing Bridge

There was a lot of mud and very slippery sections back under the tree cover. Boardwalks do have their advantages. Once past the Egmont Visitor centre I saw hardly anyone. And up on the Holly Trail (around 1000m)  I was above the tree line with magnificent views:

Looking up. the mountain. with the Holly Trail clearly visible.

And look who turned up!:

Shadowman first made his appearance in NZ in 2010

More steps

And then down to the Ahukawakawa sphagnum moss marsh:

The last climb of the day was ahead of me over to the Pouakai Hut. The sun was just catching the hills before it disappeared behind the Pouakai Range. A long board walk protects this fragile environment:

Soon time to turn the head torch on again.

Silhouettes

Again the lights (powered by solar panels) of the hut were a welcome sight. More dancing lights were trampers who had been out to look at the tarn by light of the big, orange moon. I rejoined the track I started on that morning and 5 minutes later arrived at the hut.

The next morning was glorious again:

Hut dining area window, view to the sea

Early morning light on the Pouakais with the moon rising

My first day time view of the hut as I headed back down the steps of the Mangorei Track. Kitchen/dining to the right and four 9 person dorms to the left. At 15 NZ dollars a night not bad but free for me with my year long back country hut pass (160 dollars).

Now some recovery time for my poor calf muscles...